£400 million of new funding to support Scotland through Covid-19

New funding of £800 million (€888,800 million) is being guaranteed for the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support people, businesses and public services with the ongoing impact of Covid-19.

This means a further £400 million for the Scottish Government, £200 million (€222,200 million) for the Welsh Government and £200 million for the Northern Ireland Executive.

The announcement made late on Wednesday, December 23, increases the UK Government’s upfront guarantee this year to at least £16.8 billion (€18,673 billion) on top of funding outlined in Spring Budget 2020 and ensures that all parts of the UK can continue their response to Covid-19 through the winter months.

This funding can be spent on priorities such as the NHS and business support.

Any changes to devolved funding are normally confirmed towards the end of the financial year – but in July the UK Government introduced an unprecedented guarantee to provide them with funding certainty to respond to Covid-19.

Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack said: “The UK Government is committed to supporting people in all parts of the UK during this difficult time which is why today we have given £400 million extra to the Scottish Government for their Covid-19 response. This brings our total additional Covid-19 support to Scotland to £8.6 billion (€9,558 billion) since Spring Budget 2020.

“This is on top of direct UK Government Covid-19 support to people and businesses in Scotland, including the furlough and self-employment schemes, business loans, VAT cuts for the hardest hit sectors and investing billions in our Plan for Jobs and our welfare safety net.

“The UK Government is also providing the bulk of Covid-19 testing in Scotland and we invested £6 billion to ensure we were the first country in the world to roll out the first vaccine.

“The strength of the Union and support offered by the UK Treasury has never been more important. Together, we will continue to get through these challenging times.”

People and businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also continue to benefit from the UK Government’s £280 billion (€311,213 billion) UK-wide economic response package.